"nmBH^nBRHpHF 


^ 

A^. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


i5o   *^^     MHH 

ut  1^    12.2 

:^  11°  12.0 


I' 

1^  IMi  III'-' 


fo 


3 


Science 
Corporation 


23  WIST  M>.«.IN  STRKT 

WIUTIR,N.Y.  U5M 

(716)t72-4S03 


^^^^ 


'^ 


Pa 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/iCIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


^ 


^ 


©1984 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquaa  at  bibiiographiquaa 


Tha  instituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
originai  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackatf'balow. 


SColourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I      I    Covars  damagad/ 


D 


n 


D 


D 


Couvartura  andommagia 


Covars  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^  at/ou  palllculAa 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g^ographlquas  en  coulaur 


□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encra  de  coulaur  (i.e.  autre  que  biaua  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  an  coulaur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
RaliA  avac  d'autras  documents 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  sort  6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  la  long  de  la  marge  intirieura 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  qua  cartainas  pages  blanches  ajout^as 
lors  d'une  rastauration  apparaissant  dans  la  taxte. 
mais,  lorsqua  cela  Atait  possible,  cas  pages  n'ont 
pas  6ti  filmtes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  la  maillaur  axamplaira 
qu'il  lui  a  *tA  poasibia  da  sa  procurer.  Lea  ditails 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  sont  paut-Atra  uniques  du 
point  da  vua  bibliographiqua.  qui  peuv«'  t  modifiai 
una  image  raproduita.  ou  qui  pauvant  jxigar  una 
modification  dans  la  mAthoda  normalit  da  filmaga 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


I      I   Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  da  coulaur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagtes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaurias  at/ou  pellicul6es 

Pages  discolo'jred.  stained  or  foxec 
Pages  dAcolortes.  tachetAes  ou  piquies 


pn   Pages  damaged/ 

I      j   Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~7\   Pages  discolo'jred.  stained  or  foxed/ 


□   Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tachies 

SShowthrough/ 
Transparence 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


QualiM  inAgale  da  I'imprassion 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprand  du  material  supplAmentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponibie 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  bean  rafilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalamant  ou  partiallament 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  una  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  it6  filmies  d  nouveau  de  fa^on  A 
obtanir  la  mailleure  image  possible. 


Tl 
tc 


Tl 
P' 

01 

fi 


0 
b( 
t» 
si 
o\ 
fi 
si 

01 


Tl 
si 
Tl 
w 

U 
dl 
ai 
\n 
ri{ 
ra 

IT 


This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  balow/ 

Ce  document  est  f  ilm6  au  taux  da  rMuction  indiquA  ci-daaaoua. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


2SX 


30X 


J 


12X 


16X 


aox 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  film«d  h«r«  has  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  th«  ganarotity  of: 

Library  of  tha  Public 
Arcliivaa  of  Canada 


L'axamplaira  fiimA  fut  raproduit  grAca  A  ia 
ginArosit*  da: 

La  bibiiothAqua  dat  Arcliivas 
pubiiquas  du  Canada 


Tlia  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
posaibia  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  iagibiiity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacif ications. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  filmad 
bagikining  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  Impras- 
sion.  or  tha  back  covar  whan  approprlata.  Ail 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impraa- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  llluatratad  Imprasalon. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microflcha 
•hail  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  y  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 


Laa  imagaa  auivantas  ont  AtA  raproduitas  svac  la 
plua  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattatA  da  I'axampialra  film*,  at  an 
conformity  avac  !as  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Laa  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvrrtura  an 
papiar  ast  imprimta  sont  fllmAs  an  commandant 
par  ia  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  aont  filmfo  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'lllustratlon  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talia 
amprainta. 

Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darniAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microflcha,  salon  ia  ' 
cas:  la  symbols  -^  signifia  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbols  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 


IMaps,  platas,  charts,  ate,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratkM.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antlraly  Includad  in  ona  axpoaura  ara  filmad 
baginning  In  tha  uppar  iaft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framaa  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Las  cartas,  pianchas,  tablaaux,  ate,  pauvant  Atra 
fiimte  A  das  taux  da  reduction  diff Arants. 
Loraqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clichA,  11  ast  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angla  aupAriaur  gaucha,  da  gaucha  A  droita, 
at  da  haut  an  has,  on  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nAcassaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  ia  mAthoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

g 


r-^ 


THE  rOLITICAL 


CAUSES  AND  CONSEQUENCES 


OF  I'JV  rT-OirS'l  ANT 


"BEEORMATIOI:" 

A  LCCTUFtE. 

BY  THOMAS  BAKCY  McGEE. 


(I'LIU.ISIIICU  DV  OltliKIl    OF   Till:  CATirOT.IC   INSTITlTn    OF   Ni:W  YCIllC,  BnFOKK  WHOM  IT  WAS 

Di:i,ivi.iiKn  AT  Tin:  taukunai  i.i:,  hkoahwav,  januauy  ^Gtii,  1S53.) 


^      *  "Tlic  liift  rtvoluUon  of  dcclriiic  nr.d  tl'icry,  nl.lcli  lir.s  l.npjriiivl  In  Euroi-r,  i?  Ihc  ncfomirit'on    I 
••••••       Tiio  enVct  WHS  to  Intiodiicc  oiiicr  Interests  into  all  cdiiiitiiostilinn.   ^ 

tlinsc  wlilcli  aroFt!  froui  tliclr  Ii.Ci.lily  i ml  iiiiiui:.!  tiicunii^itmcts."— IIirki;.— '•  Tlioii<;hts  un  I'roiai 
.IJfaii-s  in  nai." 


'31  r  III   \^  D  r  It : 

rUBLISHED  BY  D.  it  J.  SADLIER  .t  CO.,  ICl  WILLIAM  STIIF.KT. 

185JJ. 


GEOKGE    W.    WOOD,   MINTEU,   KO.   2   DUTCH-STREET. 


■( 


I 


I  III  m«m  ^  mm^^^^mmfmmmmm^mmmmmmmmmms!!!^ 


^mm 


V 


THE  POLITICAL 


CAUSES  AND  CONSEQUENCES 


OF  THE  PROTESTANT 


"EEFOEMATION:" 


A  LECTURE. 


BY  THOMAS   DAECY    McGEE. 


(PUBLISIIKD   BY  OanStt   OV   THE  CATnOUO   IN8TIT0TK  OF  NEW  YORK,  BKFOSK  WBOU   IT  WAS 
DKLIVBBKD  AT  TUK  TABUNACLB,  BEOAOWAY,  JANUARY   26TU,  1853.) 


oThelutrevolullonofdoctrinoand  theory,  which  has  happened  in  Europe,  Is  the  Reromtntion. 
******  The  elTuct  was  to  introduce  other  iutcreits  into  all  countries,  thnn 
those  which  arooe  from  their  locality  nnd  natural  circumstances."— Burk«.—"7'Aoi/^/i£»  on  t'rtnch 
jiJjrair#i«17ai." 


•  f  jffl  ^nrk: 


PUBLISHED  BY  D.  <b  J.  SADLIER  &  CO.,  164  WILLIAM  STREET. 

1863. 


I 

I 


T 


.^ 


THE  POLITICAL  CAUSES  AND  CONSEQUENCES 


or   TBB 


|)r0lfstant  '*  |lef0nnatiffn/' 


J 


Ladte«;  and  Gentlkmrx: 

The  New  York  Catholic  Institute  have  done  mcthc  honor  to  ask 
me  to  repeat  before  this  hirger  audience,  the  lecture  which  I  deliver- 
ed to  their  members,  in  December  last,  on  the  "Political  Causes 
and  Conse(Hieiiccs  of  the  Protestant  lleformation."  Not  being  ac- 
ciistoined  to  read  lectures,  I  cannot  promise  to  repeat,  word  for 
word,  what  I  then  said,  but  the  same  arguments  I  used  then,  I 
mean  to  use  to-niglit,  because  tlu-y  are  the  only  arguments  on  this 
subject  which  I  believe  to  be  sound  and  true. 

Of  thu  weight  of  the  subject  itself  I  need  say  nothing.  Wc  are 
aftected  by  it,  our  fathers  were  affected  by  it,  our  children  and 
their  children  will  feel  its  remote  conseijucnces;  every  book, 
j)aper,  and  pamphlet  wc  read  is  full  of  it ;  it  mingles  in  every 
public  debate,  it  comes  up  in  every  private  conversation.  Our 
public  men  speak  of  "before  the  Reformation,"  as  describing  one 
state  of  political  facts,  and  "aft(>r  the  Reformation,"  as  describing 
another  and  a  very  diilerent  state  of  facts.  One  would  suppose  a 
subject  so  much  talked  of  ought  to  be  well  understood,  yet  such, 
I  venture  to  assert,  is  not  the  case : — ninety-nine  out  of  every 
hundred,  who  discourse  so  fluently  of  this  great  event,  by  all  I 
could  ever  learn  from  their  language,  seem  to  be  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  it  transpired,  of  the  motives,  the 
men,  and  the  results,  of  what  they  call  "  The  Reformation." 

In  what  I  shall  say,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  propose  to  avoid 
theological  matter  altogether.     I  trust  I  know  my  place  as  a  lay. 


m.in  .'iiirl  a  mere  stmlcnt  of  liistorj,  well  enough  to  avoicl  treating 
the  doctrinal  (lucstions,  even  iC  I  were  able  to  ilo  so,  w'^ieh  I  am 
not.  I  propose  only  to  eonsitlcr  the  exterior  ct)nditionfl,  the  vis- 
ible biilli,  p;iront:iL;e,  and  j'oliey,  of  the  .{{elbrni  -to  treat  it  as  a 
tenjporal  fact  of  human  origin — as  an  insurrection  of  the  worldly 
])as.sions  and  })iirposes  of  men,  aided,  eneouraged  and  established 
by  an  extraordinary  eonjunetion  of  worldly  eircutnstaui-es,  center- 
in^i^  on  the  suil  of  Kiiropo  in  the  sixt(HMith  century.  I  believo 
that  it  must  forevern'miiin  incxj^lieabh*,  except  it  is  considei'eil  as 
a  Gerniani''  Hcvolution  -a  resurreetion  of  barbariaji  pride  and 
ix^lilirs  jitj-ainst  the  Divine  Law  and  its  Apo.stolie,  l'aj)al,  Kxecu 
tive. 

Wlirn  I  use  the  t(>rin  politics^  I  use  it  in  its  best  original  sense. 
I  am  Will  aware  it  is  capable  of  being  degraded  into  the  basest  of 
trades,  but  I  also  believ(!  it  is  capable  of  being  exalted  into  the 
sublin\''st  of  sciences.  ]V)lities,  the  science  of  law,  of  government, 
of  society,  (next  to  theolo,!iy,  the  science  of  salvation,)  is  the  wor- 
thiest studv  of  the  created  intellect.  It  is  in  this  sense  1  iMidt^avor 
to  use  it,  and  whoever  woidil  not  be  the  mere  mechanical  rej)eater 
of  the  editors,  or  tlu>  diMnagogues  of  to-day,  whoever  scorns  to 
fetch  an<l  carry  things  out  of  other  men's  mo\iths,  must  take  up 
the  record  of  the  T^cformation  and  study  it  for  himself,  if  ho  would 
tiuly  understand  the  central  force  of  our  modern  polities. 

'rin'  date  of  the  "Reformation  "  is  well  fixed,  it  is  the  first  half 
of  the  IGth  Christian  century.  (Some  give  the  exact  year  as  1517, 
when  Professor  Luther  nailed  his  propositions  against  Tet/.el 
to  the  gate  of  the  great  ehun;h  of  AVittembcrg;  others  iix  it  at 
1529,  when  thcseccders  from  the  Diet  of  Spin's,  signed  the  J^wtext, 
from  which  the  sects  are  called.)  It  must  often  have  struck  3'ou 
as  worthy  of  inquiry'-,  why  it  should  have  begun  in  the  IGth  cen- 
tury, rather  than  in  the  14th  or  the  17th,  or  any  other?  AVhy  it 
should  have  begun  in  (lermany,  and  of  all  Germany,  why  first 
in  Saxony?  These  arc  historical  facts  certainly  of  high  interest, 
but  no  book  that  I  know  of  in  our  language  fully  annvers  thcso 
three  questions. 

Before,  however,  I  come  to  particulars  of  time  and  place,  I  must 
present  the  causes  of  the  event,  and  I  thiidc  I  will  be  able  to  show 
you,  that  the  shifting  politics  of  the  loth  century — the  singular 
Btatc  of  European  alVairs — was  the  natural  and  necessary  original 
of  Protestantism:  I  think  I  can  show  you  that  the  event  would 
have  been  much  the  same,  if  Luther  and  his  friends  had  never 


treating 
cli  ]  am 

the  vis- 

.t  it  ns  a 

worldly 

a;l)'.isl\ed 

I,  center- 

belie  vo 
ilo'eil  fts 
ride  iind 
,  ivKceu 

al  sense, 
basest  of 
into  tlic 
•rnnient, 
the  wor- 
■ndeavor 
rr])eater 
,'orns  to 
take  up 
10  would 

I'irst  half 
as  1517, 
t  Tet/el 
fix  it  at 
e  J^roleat, 
•uck  you 
.Gth  een- 

AVhy  it 
iviiy  first 

interct^t, 
ers  thcso 

J,  I  must 
to  show 

singular 
original 

it  would 

a,d  never 


been  horn — that  the  world  had  hardened  its  heart,  that  the  com- 
bustihlcH  were  all  gathered  and  arranged  I'ov  the  work,  and  that 
any  hold,  self-possessed  incendiary,  hy  aj)plying  the  match,  could 
have  accom|)Iished  the  schism  and  its  consequences. 

The  loth  century  was  eminently  conunercial.  it  opened  splen- 
didly with  the  discovery  ofMatleira,  in  1412,  and  closed  magnili- 
ccntly  with  the  discovery  of  America,  and  the  Afiican  discoveries 
of  the  J*ortiigues(\  A  new  way  was  i'ound  to  Asia,  and  a  new 
world  in  the  Western  waters.  The  historic  wealth  of  India,  and 
the  anticipated  wealth  of  America,  were  the  exclusive  thoughts  of 
men:  all  was  discovered  by  Europeans,  and  all  promised  the 
world's  wealth  to  i^lurope.  'Vlw  rush  I'rom  every  shore  into  every 
sea,  was  unparalelled  in  our  era:  merchants  became  princes  and 
princes  merchants;  chivalry  advanced  its  bi'uner  into  the  wide 
sea  Held,  and  cavaliers,  despising  the  ancient  avenues  to  glory, 
forsook  the  crusad(;  and  gave  the  crescent  peace,  to  seek  through 
savage  seas,  new  outlets  to  immortality. 

1  honor  the  first  oceanic  adventurers  of  tliat  period — the  world 
never  saw  braver  or  bett->r  men.  It  was  nut  their  fault,  if  every 
sordid  j^assion,  reared  its  evil  head,  and  rushed  u])on  the  dis- 
coveries they  had  consecrated  in  the  name  of  Christendom  and 
the  Cross,  l^ut  such  was  the  sad  result:  this  sudden  influx  of 
l^haniician  fortune,  raised  commercial  over  Christian  objects — 
weakened  by  abrui>t  expansion  the  ancient  bonds  of  Christian 
unity— created  a  desire  lor  a  true,  trading  religion,  whose  easy 
morality  might  be  left  to  the  private  interpretation  of  the  mer- 
chant, and  the  jiractiee  of  sea-cai)tains.  In  all  cases  wc  find  the 
great  trading  citic^s,  the  schools,  or  the  strongholds  of  this  new  six- 
teenth century  religion. 

About  the  middle  of  tin;  century  I  speak  of,  it  was  plain  that 
the  j)rinccs  and  statesmen  discovered  a  new  world  of  ])olicy, 
hitherto  mdvnown  to  Christendom.  Crusades  were  no  longer 
possible,  the  Council  of  Florence  appealed  to  the  chivalry  of  the 
West,  in  vain,  and  a  few  years  later  Constantinople  fell,  without  a 
latin  lanec  brokcm  in  its  defense.  When,  in  15-45,  Pope  Nicholas 
V.  made  the  Christian  alliance  at  Lodi,  for  another  Crusade, 
Venice,  nine  days  after,  made  a  s;.'erct  compact  with  Mahomet,  and 
the  King  forbade  the  Crusade  to  be  preached  in  France,  Ten  years 
later  the  immortal  Pope,  Pius  II.  could  not  find  a  single  Prince 
ready  for  the  Holy  war.  He  w;  s  obligi  d  to  bo  his  own  captain,  or 
to  let  Italy  share  the  fate  of  Constantinople  and  of  llhodcs :  carried 


G 

in  liis  litter  towards  Aiicona,  lu»  died  in  si^ht  of  the  gftlloys,  in 
wliii!li  ho  wns  to  (MribaiU,  but  from  which  no  royal  banner  IJoalod 
over  tlie  sen. 

The  good  old  phrases  "Christ's  Kingdom,"  and  "the  Kepublio 
of  dod,"  had  lost  their  meaning  for  the  wor'dlings,  who  struggled 
for  the  tn^isures  of  the  ocean  and  the  earth,  and  this  publie  indif- 
ference was  nceompanietl  by  gross  private  immorality.  Whether 
wo  examine  the  Itepublics  or  the  KingdoniK,  we  lind  little  elso 
but  assasinations  and  adulteries,  among  tiie  ])owerful  familea: 
eonsj)ieuous  as  these  horrid  vices  are,  in  the  high  plueei*  of  that 
time,  it  is  i'([ual]y  certain,  that  the  politicians,  «<>  eriminal  in  tlieir 
own  lives,  were  all  signalized  by  "  independence"  of  liome.  The 
Italian  politicians  had  borrowed  the  theory  of  "a  balancio 
of  ])ower, "  iVoni  the  prevalent  study  of  (Irecian  j)olitics. 
(iradually  the  chief  Eur(j|tean  Courts  accepted  it,  and  the  league 
of  Cambray,  for  tiie  j^artition  of  Venice,  formed  in  jr)08,  is  tho 
type  of  jiM  tho  Holy  Alliances  since  projected.  One  of  the  chief 
parties  to  that  com))act,  had  publicly  exjtressed  a  hope  that  the 
then  "  J'upc  would  be  the  last  of  them,"  for  "like  all  the  rest,  ho 
wa.s  a  scoundrel ;"  another  struck  a  medal  to  reeonl  his  hatred  of 
Rome,  with  the  motto — "IVrish  tho  name  of  liabylon."  These 
personages  were  tho  most  Christian  King  of  Francie,  and  the 
Apostolic  Empeior  Maximilian,  who  may  be  reckoned,  says 
D'Aubigne,  "among  those  who  ])repared  the  way  for  the  reforma- 
tion." Compare  the  league  of  Cambray,  with  ayy  of  the  Crusades, 
if  you  wish  to  see  how  I'ar  worldly  interests  had  encroached  on 
Christian  ])rineiples  in  European  politics. 

"The  balance  of  power,"  or  "sy.stem  of  e(piilibrium,"  was  cer- 
tain to  take  from  tho  ]\:)2)es,  the  arbitremont  of  the  internal  dis- 
putes of  Christendom,  and  to  throw  it  into  the  hands  of  coalitions 
of  princes.  But  this  scheme  could  not  work,  so  long  as  the  bulk 
of  their  sul)jects  were  truly  Catholic  ;  a  Ihet  which  the  Jubilee  of 
1450,  established.  The  moral  jiower  of  tho  Poj)0  was  necessarily 
the  highest  political  power  so  long  as  Europe  remained  one  in 
faith,  loyally  bound  to  the  presidential  chair  of  Peter.  It  is  there- 
fore obvious,  that  })rinces  and  communities  deeply  interested  in 
the  new  system  of  l)olicy,  and  the  new  proj(;cts  of  conmieree, 
would  become  natural  patrons  of  Protestantism,  as  a  ])olitieal  agent, 
as  a  counterpoise  to  Home,  and  a  basis  of  foreign  coalitions. 

As  if  to  complete  tlie  conspiracy  against  the  Church,  the  liter- 
ature of  the  age,  both  popular  and  professional,  had  grown  as 


immornl  as  the  princoa  and  morchants.  The  hallada  of  Provonoo 
were  as  iiiij)urc  as  tlu«  (Inu'k  odes  ^A'  Italy.  By  t\w  fall  of  Con- 
Htantinoplc,  a  school  of  subtlo  nsfnpccs  liad  been  let  loose  upon 
tho  West — a  school  of  aliens,  in  every  case,  to  Cath<jlic;  orthodoxy 
— ft  school  who  styled  Plato  thr'  Divine,  who  in  their  discourses 
compared  tho  Blessed  Trinity  to  .lupiter  and  Apollo,  and  the 
Blesseil  Mother  of  God  to  Diana  or  Minerva.  Not  oidy  these 
philosophic  foreigners,  but  their  Kiirop(!au  disciples,  exalted  this 
paj^an  liUTature  above  all  sacred  knowledge.  'J1ui  extent  of  tlni 
epidemic  is  illustrate«l  by  the  fact  that  all  Avho  had  pretensions  to 
literature  exchanged  their  Christian  names  ibrClreek.  Thus,  in 
Jlome  itself,  we  meet  the  Clianiberlain  Paris  de  drassi  with  one 
brother  called  Aganu>mn.)n,  and  another  called  iVchiiles,  both  in 
high  olliec;  thus,  in  (Jcrniany,  Gerhard  becomes  Erasmus,  Schwarz- 
crd  biTomes  Melanethon,  Kuhorn  is  changed  to  Uucer,  and  llaus- 
ohien  to  (I'^colampadius.  AVIu>n  Professor  Luther  entered  the  no- 
vitiate at  Krfurt,  after  s])ending  the  evening  at  the  Tavern,  lie 
brought  oidy  lUaulus  and  Virgil  in  with  him — a  pretty  pair  of 
Pagan  companions  for  a  novice  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augustine! 
Long  afterwards  he  said  he  never  was  a  true  monk  at  heart — one 
of  the  few  true  things  he  ever  said. 

Tho  chief  result  of  the  oceanic  discoveries,  on  the  schools  and 
studies  of  the  Kurojieans,  was  to  draw  the  most  active  minds  to 
physical  and  from  metaphysical  inquiries.  The  observations  made, 
and  materials  brought  from,  Africa  aiul  America,  gave  constant  ap- 
petite and  food  for  aiudogieal  reasoning.  The  ancient  ideas  of 
earth  and  ocean,  once  exploded  by  exj-eriment,  the  unmoored 
mind  drilU'd  from  trai"  "on  to  conjecture — from  faith  to  skepti 
cism.  Every  innovator  pleaded  the  precedents  of  Columbus  and 
Do  (Jama ;  (a  famous  anatomist  at  Bologna  was  styled,  by  way  of 
distinction,  "  tho  Columbus  of  the  human  body ;")  that  desire  to 
demonstrate  every  science  to  tho  satisfaction  of  the  senses  then 
grew  u]>,  which  llowcred  in  the  system  of  Lord  Bacon,  and  has 
since  produced  such  perilous  fruits  of  false  science.  The  art  of  print- 
ing, in  Luther's  youth,  was  preparing  men's  minds,  by  these  new 
studies,  for  innovations  still  more  immoral. 

These  were  some  of  tho  general  conditions  of  ]<]uropc  immedi- 
ately "  before  the  llcformation."  Bearing  them  in  mind,  it  will 
not  a})pear  to  you  so  strange  why  the  Keformation  succeeded  at 
the  time  it  did,  and  no  sooner.  Wo  have  still  to  consider  why  i- 
broke  out  in  Germany  and  not  at  Eome  itself,  or  in  France,  or 


mmmm 


8 


Spain,  or  at  a  point  farthest  from  Rome.  If  it  was  a  real  Reform- 
ation, one  would  suppose  that  it  would  have  begun  at  the  head, 
as  Christianity  did  at  Pagan  Rome — or  among  the  freest  and  sim- 
plest populations  of  some  country  furthest  removed  from  Roman 
influence.  Why  Germany  should  begin  it,  why  the  first  quarter 
of  the  16th  century  should  be  the  time  of  beginning,  and  why 
Saxony  should  be  the  first  country — all  these  arc  important  con- 
siderations. 

Without  disparaging  German  scholarship,  it  was  then  certainly 
inferior  to  that  of  France  and  Italy  ;  without  overrating  the  insti- 
tutions of  old  Spain,  they  wore,  before  the  centralization,  the  freest 
in  Europe.  Without  denying  that  there  were  pious  people  in  Ger- 
many, it  is  quite  certain  that  the  Hungarians,  Tyrolese,  and  Poles 
were  proverbial  throughout  the  continent  for  their  devotion.  Sax- 
ony— the  State  of  Germany  which  first  became  Pro*;cstant — was 
most  famous  for  good  living.  She  had  not  as  yet  produced  any 
eminent  scholars,  and  had  long  cea.sed  to  contribute  saints  to  the 
calendar.  If  it  was  a  work  of  pure  faith,  or  pure  intellect,  one 
would  certainly  not  look  first  to  Germany,  and  in  Germany  not 
fir.st  to  Saxony.  If  it  was  a  question  of  cookery  or  war  it  might 
be  different,  but  it  was  not. 

Protestantism,  as  I  maintain,  was  a  politician  from  the  first* 
Germany,  with  "  its  anarcliieal  constitution,"  was  the  most  active 
field  of  I'iuropcan  polities,  while  its  emperors  were  elective,  and  in 
Germany  the  spiritual  and  temporal  powers  met  in  marked  eon- 
junction.  The  emperors  of  ( icrmany,  claiming  the  title  of  "  lio- 
niiin  and  Apostolic,"'  were  crowned  by  the  hands  of  the  Popes. 
This  title,  the  first  in  dignity  in  Europe,  was  supposed  to  derive 
from  the  Holy  Fatlicrs,  and  to  be  a  defective  title  until  confirmed 
at  Rome.  (In  speaking  of  such  coronation  we  should  always  re- 
member that  it  was  only  a  ceremony,  a  very  august  ceremony,  to 
be  sure,  but  still  far  bcncatli  the  dignity,  the  responsibility,  and 
the  .sanctity  of  a  sacrament.) 

Now,  these  emperors,  elected  by  one  power,  and  confirmed  by 
the  other,  were  .sometimes  at  war  with  those  who  ciiose,  sometimes 
with  those  who  confirmed  them.  Generally  speaking,  as  the 
Church  and  the  world  are  opposed,  and  as  the  human  heart  since 
the  beginning  is  prone  to  pride  and  to  error,  so  the  emperors 
came  oftenestinto  oilision  with  the  Popes.  The  controversy  "of 
the  investitures"— whether  the  cm^Lcror  had  the  right  to  invest 
bi.shops  with  "ring  and  crozier,"  and  hold  their  sees  to  be  t'lbject 


'of 


fiefs,  to  bp  presented  by  the  sovereign,  occasioned  the  most  serious 
quarrel  Germany  had  with  Rome,  and  its  tradition  had  constantly 
goaded  German  pride,  untii  the  lleformation  gave  a  revenge  to  the 
empire,  which  Maximilian  was  not  slow  to  take. 

This  I  consider  the  reason  why  the  Reformation  ripened  first  in 
that  empire.  Why  Saxony  waf  the  precise  place,  may  be  ac- 
counted for  from  the  fact  that  in  the  first  years  of  the  I'^th  centu- 
ry, the  balance  of  Germany  turned  upon  the  will  of  Saxony,  which 
will,  also,  included  protection  to  Dr.  Luther  and  his  cause. 

Frederick  of  Saxony  found  Protestantism  in  the  streets,  and 
raised  it  to  the  level  of  his  own  throne.  Having  foimdod  a  uni- 
versity in  his  town  of  Wittemberg,  he  in  1508  called  Martin  Lu- 
ther (then  in  his  25th  year)  from  the  Convent  of  Erfuth  to  a  pro- 
fessor's chair.  Tliis  Frederick  was  a  great  politician,  in  the  mean- 
er sense.  His  professor  made  a  party  in  and  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Saxony,  and  he  used  the  party  when  it  was  made.  Luther  un- 
derstood and  despised  liim,  but  like  an  adroit  manager,  was  wil- 
ling to  be  used,  provided  he  might  use  others  in  turn.  The  rela- 
tion between  the  professor  and  the  prince  is  a  curious  example  of 
clever  diplomacy  on  both  sides.  They  carry  on  their  corres})ond- 
ence  through  a  third  party  ;  the  elector  disclaims  Luther's  violence 
in  public,  but  furnishes  him  hints  in  private.  Luther  complains 
of  his  patron's  selfishness  and  worldlines  in  private  letters,  buu 
exalts  him  in  public  as  the  hope  of  Germany  and  the  saviour  of 
religion.  And  this  double  meaning  and  dishonest  intercourse 
charactoiizes  all  tlie  acts  and  words  of  the  two  leading  Relormers. 

Now,  Elector  Frederick  was  the  candidate  for  the  em})ire,  pre- 
ferred (in  the  event  of  old  Maximilian's  death)  by  the  native  Ger- 
man party,  who  o|)posed  Cliarles  V.  as  a  stranger  and  a  Spanish 
prince,  Maximilian  devoted  his  last  years  to  securing  the  succes- 
sion to  this  grandson,  and  consequently  paid  all  court  to  the  prince, 
who  alone  could  decide  the  election.  Finally  Charles  Y.  was 
elected  by  Frederick  resigning  inhis  favor,  and  bringing  his  friends 
to  vote  for  him.  Tlius,  in  the  last  years  of  Maximilian  and  first 
of  Charles,  Luther's  patron  and  ally  was  the  most  powerful  and 
active  politician  of  Germany.  It  was  precisely  in  these  critical 
years  that  Protestantism,  hovering  about  the  political  balance, 
formed  its  party,  and  began  to  exercise  its  evil  influence  in  the 
political  order.  It  is  usual  to  consider  Luther  as  a  headlong,  rash 
man,  fearless  of  consequences.  Nothing  can  be  less  correct.  It 
is  very  true  that  he  had  a  hot  temper,  and  a  vituperative  style,  but 


10 

all  liis  essays  and  letters  prove  him  to  have  been  a  capital  party 
manager,  one  who  used  every  sort  of  material  that  came  to  hand, 
and  resorted  to  every  stratagem  to  effect  his  object.  He  began  by 
attacking  Tctzel,  whose  patron  had  an  liereditary  quarrel  with  hia 
patron ;  he  used  in  turn  the  knights,  like  llutten,  against  the  no- 
bles ;  the  peasants  of  Swabia  against  both,  and  the  nobles  against 
the  peasants  and  the  Anabaptists.  "When  he  had  established  his 
short-lived  Primacy  at  Wittomberg,  and  declared  "  that  church 
and  school "  the  centre  of  Protestant  unity — he  allowed  every  lib- 
erty to  those  who  bowed  to  his  chair,  whether  they  were  Bohemi- 
ans, Moravians,  Zwinglians,  Bigamists,  like  Philip  of  IIcsso,  or 
public  plunderers,  like  that  Archduke  Albert,  who  built  the  Prus- 
sian throne  on  the  spoils  of  the  Teutonic  order,  of  which  he  was 
the  foresworn  Grand  Rfastor. 

Another  proof  that  Protestantism  was  in  its  origin  political,  is 
the  foct  that  it  has  taken  its  generic  name  from  a  mere  political 
protest^  made  by  the  Scceders  from  the  Diet  of  Spires.  That  pro- 
test, signed  Ijy  six  Imperial  Electors,  near  a  hundred  nobles,  and 
a  large  number  of  free  cities,  is  as  strictly  a  State  paper  as  a  Pres- 
ident's message,  a  Queen's  speech,  or  a  Parliamentary  j)rotest 
against  a  new  law.  It  eml)odies  the  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
but  it  does  so  logically ;  it  asserts  them  as  against  the  Diet  and  the 
emperor — it  asserts  them  in  the  political  order,  ui)on  grounds 
strictly  ])olitical.  To  prove  that  the  signers  so  xmderstood  it,  we 
have  only  to  remember  that  they  retired  from  Spires  to  Smalkalde, 
made  the  first  Protestant  league  there,  drew  up  the  plan  of  a  cam- 
paign, dispersed  to  recruit  their  forces,  and  a.sserted  their  private 
judgment  sword  in  hand. 

To  see  more  clearly  the  diflerence  between  Protestantism  and 
Christianity,  in  their  birth  and  in  their  growth,  we  have  only  to 
compare  these  indisputable  I'acts  with  the  early  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church. 

Pope  St.  Peter  entered  Rome  on  foot,  in  the  reign  of  Claudius, 
and  descended  into  the  catacombs.  There,  like  coral  insects  in  the 
sea,  the  hunted,  nameless  Christians  wrought  invisibly  on  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Church.  They  disclaimed  with  energy  all  designs 
against  the  State.  Nothing  could  be  more  noiseless  or  inoffensive 
than  their  social  attitude — nothing  more  resolute  th?n  their  an- 
swers when  questioned  as  to  the  faith — nothing  more  consistent 
than  their  whole  conduct.  From  proconsuls  and  princes  they  re- 
ceived only  abundant  stripes  and  sccrn,  and  gall  and  vinegar  for 


f;l! 


11 


? 


il  party 
,o  hand, 
3gan  by 
■with  ilia 
tlie  no- 
against 
slied  liis 
t  cliurch 
^ery  lib- 
Bolicnu- 
lesso,  or 
lie  Prus- 
i  he  was 

litical,  is 

pohtical 

rhat  pro- 

blos,  and 

s  a  Pres- 

r  protest 

)rination, 

t  and  the 

grounds 

od  it,  wo 

lalkaldo, 

•f  a  cam- 

•  private 

usm  and 
only  to 
le  Chris- 

landius, 
3ts  in  the 
he  foun- 

dosigns 
oftensive 
heir  an- 
Dnsistcnt 

they  re- 
cgar  for 


gry 


thanksgiving, 


their  refreshment.  The  cradle  of  Christianity  was  rocked  aniid 
the  horrors  of  the  cathcombs — its  infant  eyes  opened  on  tunnels  of 
darkness,  heaped  with  graves — its  limbs  were  trained  for  the  rack 
and  the  gibbet  by  the  discipline  of  the  doscrt,  and  all  the  rigors  of 
primitive  penance.  Did  the  lion  of  the  Amphitheatre  howl  of 
hung(>r?  Ilis  Christian  food  was  always  at  hand.  Was  liome 
burned  ?  The  Christians  did  it.  AVas  the  cit}--  out  of  humor  ?  A 
Christian  sacrifice  was  grateful  to  the  people  or  "the  gods."  Did 
the  army  suffer  defeat?  A  Christian  sacrifice  propitiated  the  an- 
deities.  Did  it  triumph  ?  Tlicy  were  olFercd  up  for  a 
Hated  by  the  powerful — maligned  by  the  philoso- 
phers— despised  by  the  men  of  pleasure — assailed  by  the  men  of 
trade — Christianity  made  its  way  into  the  world.  Unlil: ;  Protest- 
antism, it  had  neither  a  Frederick  of  Saxony,  a  lieuclilin,  an 
Erasmus,  a  Philip  of  Ilesse,  nor  the  magistrates  and  merchants  of 
the  free  Imperial  cities  to  form  a  girdle  round  i:,  and  fight  its  bat- 
tles with  the  sword. 

It  addressed  itself  to  the  slave,  the  convict,  the  sailor  in  his  gal- 
ley, the  wayfarer  on  the  road,  the  women,  the  children  ;  it  won  its 
recruits  one  by  one — except  on  miraculous  occasions — it  changed 
the  individual  first,  then  the  famil}',  then  the  congregation,  then 
the  city,  and  finally  overspread  the  world,  without  a  2^rotest,  or  a 
battle  fought  on  its  account.  It  did  not  wait  on  Providence  in  the 
antechamber  of  kings;  it  promised  mankind  not  new  liberties  but 
new  restraints;  it  hehl  out  no  secularization  of  Pagan  property ; 
it  asked  no  treaty  of  Westphalia  to  recognize  its  existence  in  the 
civil  order;  it  had  itself,  by  its  wondcr-wor^'ing  spirit,  reconstruc- 
ted Rome  and  absorbed  the  Gothic  deluge.  All  the  dross  of  poor 
humanity  had  been  poured,  in  successive  ages,  into  its  lap,  and  in 
the  divine  alembic  of  its  infinite  charity,  the  Church  had  turned 
it  to  pure  gold,  and  virtue,'  and  order. 

Grateful  Europe  in  the  age  of  Charlemagne  beheld  a  "  true  pro- 
gress "  of  humanity  un<ler  the  auspices  of  the  Church.  The  fam- 
ily was  consecrated  by  a  sacrament — common  ties  were  strength- 
ened and  extended  by  the  law  forbidding  the  intermarriage  of  near 
relations — agriculture  revived  under  the  lead  of  the  Benedictines 
— architecture  flourished,  thatmonuiaentof  the  genius  of  Christian 
order — domestic  slavery  began  to  melt  in  tlie  gonial  glow  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship — the  chaos  caused  by  the  wreck  of  Home,  was  re- 
formed into  a  number  of  separate  but  united  States,  whose  federal 
bond  was  allegiance  to  Home.    In  the  East,  anti-Christian  schism 


12 


had  (lone  its  work  and  had  given  its  warning.  Photian  was  a 
right  good  Protestant,  and  he  originated  a  far  higher  heresy  than 
Luther's.  The  GornuiTi  appealed  to  the  passions,  railing  against 
celibacy,  fasting,  and  Church  taxation;  tho  Greek  appealed  to 
the  intcllcet,  projected  subtle  theories  on  lofty  and  obscure  j)oint3 
of  doctrine,  hiring  the  will  away  through  the  imagination  and  tho 
reason.  The  principle  of  both  was  the  same — the  all-suflicicncy  of 
private  judgment — the  coronation  of  pride — the  revolt  of  the  in- 
dividual from  system,  from  pre.scri])tion,  from  infallibility  on 
Earth.  Photian  succeeded  wiilcly  and  prepared  the  path  of  Ma- 
homet; Luther  succeedetl  locally  and  prepared  the  path  of  Spi- 
noza, of  Voltaire,  of  llobcspiorre,  of  the  Goddess  of  lloason,  and 
the  present  German  rationalism,  which  treats  our  liord  and  Saviour 
as  a  myth,  and  tolcjatcs  Luther's  own  Bible  chielly  on  account  of 
"  the  poetical  passages." 

Gralelul  i<]urope  beholding,  In  the  age  of  Cliarlemagne,  that 
Paganism  overran  the  schismatic  East,  as  fire  does  flax,  intimately 
knowing  that  Pome  alone  could  give  unity  and  a  system  to  the 
Christian  Nations,  forced  gifts,  tributes,  and  territories  on  tho 
Popes.  From  the  days  of  Constantine  they  were  the  lords  of  tho 
city,  but  from  the  days  of  Charlemagne  U  eir  temporal  power  be- 
comes apparent,  not  only  in  Italy  but  through  Europe.  The  po- 
litical influence  which  th(>  first  Apostles  disclaimed  in  the  ]*agan 
world,  was  forced  upon  their  ivmote  predecessors  by  the  grateful 
and  much  indebted  Christian  generations.  And  in  this  there  is 
no  inconsistency  between  St.  Peter  and  St.  Gregory.  Before  and 
after  an  event,  the  conduct  of  the  same  person  may  be  very  dif- 
ferent and  yet  quite  consistent  with  the  rigid  rule  of  duly.  The 
beaten  soldier  may  retreat  with  honor,  the  betrayed  people  may 
resict  with  justice,  the  outraged  wife  may  leave  her  husband,  and 
the  abused  child  her  father — upon  ceVtain  grave  contingencies, 
arising  in  each  case.  The  Church  of  the  Feudal  A;;(  after  a 
thousand  years  of  civilizing  servicv^s,  could  very  consistently  wield 
the  temporal  powers  which  tho  Primitive  Church  disclaimed.  It 
docs  seem  th(,,t  there  was  no  other  alternative  open  fo^  the  Popes, 
consistently  with  Christian  interests.  The  unanimous  voice  of 
Europe,  both  princes  and  people,  hailed  the  Pope  as  vicar  of  Christ, 
and  father  of  all  true  Christians.  Could  the  father  refuse  to  heal 
family  quarrels?  Could  the  chief  who  alone  all  agreed  to  honor, 
refuse  to  summon  Christendom  together  in  great  councils,  for  the 
maintenance  of  order  and  law,  or  the  common  defense  against 


i 

\ 


T 


11  was  a 

3sy  than 
;  against 
calcd  to 
•c  points 
and  tho 
•icncy  of 
>f  the  in- 
lility    on 
li  of  Ma- 
ll of  Spi- 
ipon,  and 
1  Saviour 
;count  of 

lono,  that 
iitimatcly 
?m  to  tho 
s  on  tho 
rds  of  the 
)Ower  bc- 

Thcpo- 
hc  Pagan 
0  grateful 
s  there  is 
eforo  and 
J  verv  dif- 
iiy.  '  The 
oplc  may 
band,  and 
intreneica, 
after  a 
ntly  wield 

iincd.  It 
the  Popes, 
1,  voice  of 

of  Christ, 
ise  to  heal 

to  honor, 
Is,  for  the 

se  against 


13 

the  barbarians  and  Mahomet?  Papal  interests  were,  by  necessity, 
general  interests ;  a  Catholic  in  Ireland  was  as  near  and  dear  to 
the  Pope  as  a  Catholic  in  Italy ;  his  interests  were  pacilio  as  to  tho 
intcfiuil  affairs  of  Christendom,  aggressive  only  against  the  ene- 
mies of  God  and  his  gospel ;  his  authority  was  solely  moral,  and 
to  execute  its  own  ordinances,  had  need  to  be  always  in  the  right. 
Where — I  ask  the  crccdless  theorists  of  to-day — where  would  law, 
or  letters,  or  civilization  have  been,  but  for  that  august  succession 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  Church?  Tliesi;  gentlemen  who  now  use  their 
pulpits,  or  desks  I  should  say,  and  their  printing  presses,  and  their 
lecture  rooms,  to  defame  the  holy  head  of  the  only  Christian  Hie- 
rarchy on  earth,  would  be  like  their  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  who 
were  in  Ca'sar's  time  the  ugliest  slaves  in  the  Koman  market,  but 
whom  the  Popes  of  liomc  changed  from  angles  into  angels. 

I  do  not  deny  the  modern  progress  of  mankind  in  many  useful 
arts,  but  I  question  whether  many  theories  of  social  progress  now 
BO  rife,  arc  really  sound,  and  I  believe  the  direction  pointed  out  to 
us  is  wrong.  I  am  for  progress  with  all  my  heart,  but  I  want  to 
know  who  is  at  the  helm,  and  whether  or  not  the  steersman  can 
"  box  tho  compass."  1  am  certainly  not  going  to  sea  with  a  crew 
of  landlubbers,  and  a  pilot  who  cannot  tell  how  many  points  there 
arc  between  S.  S.W.  and  N.  N.  E.  I  am  anxitms  to  have  a  wise, 
experienced,  and  authoritative  head  and  hand,  in  the  leader  of 
our  progress  noAV,  and  I  am  well  content  that  that  hand  should  be 
unlettered,  and  that  head  be  crowned  with  the  shining  circlet  of 
authority.  All  true  Christians  should  act  to-day,  as  Charlemagne  did 
u  thousand  years  ago,  by  the  lawful  head  of  Christendom,  and  in- 
Btead  of  limiting,  or  begrudging  the  authority  of  our  great  Leader, 
we  should  keep  as  a  motto  forever  before  our  eyes  and  those  of 
our  children,  this  short  sentence — More  poivcr  to  (lie  Pope.  For  1 
verily  believe  that  if  the  ratio  of  right  progress  which  pervaded 
the  middle  ages,  from  the  age  of  the  Barl)arians  to  the  Age  of 
Chivalry — I  verily  believe  if  that  ratio  had  not  been  checked  by 
the  German  rebellion  against  Kome — that  the  Christian  world 
would  be  to-day  far  more  virtuous,  more  pcacei'ul,  more  free,  and 
more  hajipy,  than  it  is  And  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that 
the  ratio  of  Feudal  progress  would  not  have  increased  if  the  Rc- 
Ibrmation  had  never  happened.  The  church  could  not  have  shut 
up  the  Indian  Ocean  or  tho  Atlantic,  or  have  obliterated  tho  art  of 
printing.  All  these  discoveries  were  n  ade  before  Luther,  and 
were  established  facta  before  the  Proteat.     All  we  can  say  is,  that 


14 


Catholi""ty  might  have  given  these  motivea  a  difTerent  direction 
and  hiw ;  but  they  were  in  the  world,  brought  into  it  by  her  sons 
witli  lior  sanction,  and  a  new  direction  and  a  hiw  is  the  admitted 
want  of  modern  progress.  Protestantism  haa  been  the  active  guide 
of  lOth  Century  ideas  of  progress,  and  where  has  it  led  us?  To 
liberty  ?  To  peace?  'IV)  the  equalization  of  rights  or  fortunes? 
To  the  concord  of  nations?  To  the  love  and  reverence  for  law? 
To  the  conquest  of  Mahomet  ?  To  the  civilization  of  barbarous 
races  ?  No !  to  none  of  these  triumphs.  Is  it  not  clear  then  that 
Protestant  progress  is  not  a  true  but  a  false  progress,  and  must, 
sooner  or  later,  be  exploded  and  abandoned. 

Europe,  before  Protestantism,  bears  some  general  resemblance 
to  this  Federal  Union,  The  })rinces  could  not  be  said  to  be  subor- 
dinate to  the  Pope,  though  he  naturally  took  precedence,  and  held 
in  certain  eases  the  initiative.  As  the  Governors  of  New  York 
stand  related  to  oiir  Presidents,  so  did  the  princes  to  the  PontilVs. 
A  requisition  from  Komc,  by  the  common  law  of  Christendom, 
was  respected  at  Vienna  or  London,  as  requisitions  i'rom  Washing- 
ton arc  at  llarrisburgh  or  Albany.  Our  doctrine  of  State-rights 
as  against  Federal  authority,  was  often  asserted  in  European  Chris- 
tendom ;  the  interdict  and  the  forces  of  the  States  loyal  to  the  Union 
were  sometimes  used  against  the  Nullifiers ;  in  every  ease  before 
the  Reformation,  the  Disunionist  failed  in  the  end,  and  the  per- 
manent politics  of  that  continent  from  the  9th  to  the  15th  Century, 
were  decided  by  the  supreme  court  at  Home. 

Those  were  highly  hopeful  ages  of  Europe,  before  her  house- 
hold was  divided  or  her  faith  in  God  grew  cold.  Tiiosc  were  the 
ages  when  she  took  full  grown  barbarism  to  her  bosom,  and 
set  it  down  clotliod  with  the  red  cross  and  the  knightly  vows  of 
continence,  obedience,  and  the  protection  of  the  poor.  Those 
were  the  ages  of  the  brotherhood  of  scholars,  when  all  literature 
spoke  one  language,  and  the  scholar  might  traverse  every  country 
and  be  everywhere  at  home.  Those  were  the  ages  before  the 
Crescent  and  the  Koian  were  defended  by  apostate  governments 
like  that  of  England.  Ages  full  of  ardor,  enthusiasm  and  prom- 
ise, and  not  devoid  of  noble  perforr  ances.  Compare  the  savage 
that  followed  Pharamond,  or  RoUo,  with  the  Christian  burgher  or 
knight  of  tho  l-ith  Century,  and  compare  that  burgher  or  knight 
with  a  European  citi-^en  or  ofTicer  of  our  day,  and  tell  me  in  which 
period  true  progress  is  most  marked?  You  have  specimens  in 
New    York   of   European  officers    of  some  rank,  and  citizens 


15 


Urection 
her  sons 
idmitted 
ve  guide 
IS?  To 
)rtunes  ? 
for  law  ? 
irbarou3 
hen  that 
id  must, 

mblance 
)c  subor- 
and  held 
iw  York 
PoutilVs. 
stcndorn, 
Vashing- 
ite-rights 
im  Cliris- 
le  Union 
sc  before 
tlie  por- 
Century, 

r  liousc- 

kverc  the 

)m,    and 

vows  of 

Those 

iterature 

country 

fore  the 

^rnments 

id  prom- 

e  savage 

rgher  or 

r  knight 

in  which 

imens  in 

citizens 


who  arc  considered  educated — you  can  make  the  comparison  when 
you  please — I  am  noL  afraid  that  you  will  disagree  with  me,  when 
I  argue  that  true  social  progress  has  had  no  worse  enemies,  than 
the  Keformer's  who  changed  the  channel  and  turned  the  stream 
aside,  from  the  Koman  direction. 

The  record  proves  that  the  political  consequences  of  the  Re- 
formation were  Christian  disunion,  partial  anarchy,  national  cen- 
tralization, standing  armies,  despotism,  increased  functionarism, 
excessive  taxation,  the  wider  separation  of  classes,  '  revolution," 
and,  finally,  socialism.  Even  in  the  brief  limits  of  a  single  lecture, 
I  think  I  can  show  how  every  one  of  these  unhappy  characteris- 
tics of  modern  Europe,  is  the  natural  oftspring  of  "  the  religious 
revolution,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

As  to  our  o\Yn  country,  I  think  I  can  show  that  our  noble  con- 
stitution owes  absolutely  nothing  to  the  politics  of  the  Reformers; 
that  it  is  the  product  of  the  natural  and  local  circumstances  of 
North  America  and  its  first  settlers,  in  entire  harmony  with 
Catholic  principles,  and  hiis  no  enemy  to  fear  so  much  as  Protest- 
antism carried  into  politics. 

As  to  fallen  Asia  and  the  barbarian  world,  I  hold  that  the  re- 
storation of  the  Christian  religion  in  the  one,  and  its  propagation 
in  the  other  region,  has  bcren  seriously  retarded  by  the  Reforma- 
tion and  its  consequences.  With  this  last  argument  I  shall  close, 
preferring  not  to  drag  you  round  the  world,  to  that  paradise  of 
parsons,  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

To  begin  with  Europe — where  the  subject  itself  begins : 

That  "the  Reformation"  divided  Christian  Europe  into  two 
great  camps,  and  so  destroyed  the  unity  of  Christendom,  is  self- 
evident.  The  Diets  of  Worms  and  Spires,  the  Iloly  Council  of 
Trent,  Bossuet  and  Liebnitz,  and  other  good  and  great  men,  have 
labored  in  vain  to  restore  unity  to  Christendom.  Whatever  vir- 
tus there  is  in  unity,  whatever  strength,  whatever  safety.  Pro- 
testantism took  away  at  the  very  outset. 

We,  in  America,  are  in  a  good  position  to  judge  the  merits  of 
a  Reform,  of  which  disunion  is  the  first  requisite.  We  live  on  a 
continent  larger  than  Europe ;  we  have  one  official  language ;  we 
are  divided  into  many  independent  states  containing  various  races, 
of  unequal  political  powers ;  we  are  united  under  a  federal  head, 
who  can  do  nothing  for  a  state,  except  what  it  cannot  do  for  it- 
self; we  have  opposite  sectional  interests  to  conciliate,  com- 
promise, and  keep  together.    'Iherc  are  among  us  also  Reformers 


19 


i 


— the  legitimate  successors  of  Professor  Luther,  whose  pe^i^'reo  I 
could  give  were  it  necessary — and  these  lieformers  speak  of  the 
unity  of  the  government,  as  a  thing  that  ought  to  bo  sacrificed  to  a 
larger  liberty ;  they  speak  of  tlio  President,  the  Congress,  and 
Acts  which  were  necessary  in  order  to  execute  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  much  as  Luther  and  his  imitators  spoke  of  Rome 
and  the  sacred  College,  in  tlie  sixteenth  century.  Suppose  they 
succeeded  in  separating  one-third  of  the  States  from  the  Union, 
what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  Disunion  would  produce  par- 
tial anarchy ;  rivalry  and  estrangement,  would  recpiirc  armed 
frontiers  and  internal  centralization ;  the  small  States  would  bo 
incorporated  by  tlio  great  ones-;  these  would  require  increased 
taxes  and  functionarism ;  classes  would  be  created ;  social  en- 
mities would  arise ;  and  a  succession  of  armed  insurrections  would 
probably  follow. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  what  did  the  Disunionists  do  for  Kuropc  ?  It 
is  .sometimes  said  they  enlarged  its  civil  liberties.  I  ask  when  and 
where  did  they  do  so  ?  Did  the  countries  that  continued  Catholic 
become  more  free  ?  Were  not  Italy  and  Spain,  as  free  in  the 
fourteenth  as  in  the  seventeenth  century .''  Did  the  countries 
which  became  wholly  Protestant,  derive  new  liberties  from  the 
change  ?  Did  Sweden  and  Denmark  ?  Did  Ilolland  ?  Did  cen- 
tralized England,  the  slave  of  London  ?  On  the  contrary  you  will 
find  the  hands  of  the  dynasties  strengthened  in  all  these  countries, 
municipal  liberties  abridged,  provincial  parliaments  suj)pressed, 
direct  taxation  abolished,  standing  armies  raised,  great  cities 
swollen  with  unnatural  fullness,  sj^ontaneous  local  loyalty  ex- 
changed for  stipendiary  officials — for  a  standing  army  in  colored 
clothes,  who  are  fed  out  of  the  excessive  taxes  of  each  separated 
State.  As  the  history  of  our  own  century  is  characterized  by  the 
word  revolution,  so  that  of  the  century  after  Luther,  is  expressed 
in  the  word,  centralization.  As  the  spendthrift  succeeds  to  the 
miser's  estate,  so  the  men  who  opposed  all  state  authority,  were 
the  true  heirs  of  those  who  claimed  everything  for  the  State. 

You  may  ask,  how  Protestantism  caused  this  state  of  things, 
especially  in  Catholic  countries?  It  was  thus:  When  "the 
Reformation  "  rendered  the  Roman  Medium  powerless  for  arbi- 
tration, or  compromise,  it  made  centralization  a  State  necessity  to 
every  European  power.  The  Presidential  power  of  the  Popes, 
depended  on  the  common  consent  of  the  Christian  states:  when 
Germany,  England  and  Holland  revolted,  the  Presidency  was 


17 


(^igrco  I 
<.  of  the 
iccd  to  a 
rsa,  and 
3  of  the 
f  Rome 
osc  they 
!  Union, 
nco  par- 
j  armed 
'ould  bo 
iicroascd 
)oial  en- 
is  would 

'opc  ?  It 
hen  and 
Catholic 
0  in  the 
3ountricH 
from  the 
Did  ccn- 
you  will 
ouiitrics, 
pressed, 
Hit  cities 
alty  cx- 

colorcd 
cparated 
d  by  the 
xprcssed 
s  to  the 
ity,  were 
ite. 

things, 
en  "the 

or  arbi- 
ccssity  to 
Popes, 

:  when 

cy  was 


abolished,  not  only  for  them  but  for  Franco,  Spain  and  Austria. 
There  was  no  longer  any  use  in  one  party  referring  to  Rome, 
when  the  other  refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  tri- 
bunal. Each  State  had  now  only  to  depend  on  its  own  internal 
forces;  whoever  could  raise  and  keep  up  the  largest  standing 
army,  had  greatest  power;  the  strong  hand,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
barbarians,  became  the  sole  safeguard  to  Catholic  as  to  Protestant 
Princes  Each  had  to  do  as  their  neighbors  did,  in  order  to  meet 
force  with  force.  Thus  we  will  ilnd  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts,  the 
Viisa  in  Sweden,  the  house  of  Orange  in  Ilolland,  the  house  of 
Brandenburgh  in  Prussia,  as  intent  on  arbitrary  power,  as  Tiouis 
XIV.  or  Charles  V.  Protestantism  made  internal  centralization  a 
state  necessity — drove  the  Kings  and  Cubincts  on  in  that  direc- 
tion— a  direction  they  were  eager  enough  to  tak'  in  former 
times,  but  which  the  common  law  of  Christendom,  and  the  easier 
resort  to  a  Supreme  Court  at  Rome,  gave  them  no  opportunity  of 
sei/,ing  in  the  ages  of  Catholic  unity. 

(When  I  speak  of  those  ages,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as 
having  any  particular  reverence  for  their  practical  politics.  Politics 
then  as  now  was  often  a  game  played  by  the  few  at  the  expense 
of  the  many;  men  of  the  world  were  then,  as  now,  hard-hearted 
and  self-seeking;  there  were  oppressions,  miseries  and  crimes 
enough.  But  there  was  among  ])oliticians,  even  tl»e  worst  and 
most  worldly,  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  a  powerful  tribunal ; 
there  was,  throughout  the  governed,  a  latent  conviction  of  fellow- 
ship capable  on  great  occasions  of  great  generosity ;  there  was  a 
sanctuary  where  the  collared  serf  might  rest  in  safety  while  his 
coroncted  master  thundered  in  vain  at  the  gate ;  tlicre  was  a 
Supreme  Court,  where  tyrants  could  be  impeached,  as  Donald 
O'Ncil  impeached  the  Plantagenets:  to  say  all  in  one  sentence, 
moral  power  had  gradually  subdued  the  barbarian  power  of  brute 
force,  had  given  mankind  a  right  direction,  a  progress  with  a 
head  to  it,  that  knew  where  it  was  going  and  what  it  wanted,  not 
like  the  giddy,  undirected  chimera  which  calls  itself  progress  in 
these  days.) 

The  exclusion  of  the  Popes  from  the  moral  government  of 
Christendom,  left  a  great  void  in  ite  stead.  The  Netherlands,  that 
common  cock-pit  of  Europe,  felt  this  want  most,  and  accordingly 
the  low  Dutch  jurists  invented  the  code  now  known  as  "  the  Laws 
of  Nations.''     As  the  peace  Congress  feels  in  our  age,  so  Grotius 

2 


18 


iil: 


W: 


iV  I 


Barbcyrac,  and  dc  Punciidorf',  Celt  in  Uicirp,  how  bare  and  lawlcM 
Fairope  was  witliout  an  jirbitrator.  They  compiled  their  codo, 
which  deiived  a  certain  authority  from  their  honored  names,  but, 
it  wanted  the  lo^jfical  eomj>lcnient  of  every  code,  au  executive  to 
enforce  itd  provisions  :  to  entertain  conflicting  claims — to  act  upon 
cases  for  which  there  is  no  iireeedcnt — to  overcome  discontented 
parties — to  protect  the  weak  Avho  arc  right,  against  the  strong  who 
arc  aggressors — there  must  be  an  executive.  The  first  writers  on 
the  law  of  nations  felt  that  it  was  a  dead  letter,  without  an  inter- 
national executive.  Grotius,  though  a  Protestant,  boldly  declares 
the  necessity  for  a  Suj^reme  Court  at  Home,  and  ho  quotes,  Mel- 
.inethon  as  one  of  his  authorities;  Leibnitz  quotes  and  defends 
this  opinion  of  Grotius  ;  Seekenberg,  of  the  same  school,  maintains 
in  his  .InriKjtriitlviu'c  that  "  it  is  right  there  .should  be  a  svstem  of 
government  among  Ciiristian.s,  and  it  is  right  that  there  should  bo 
a  head  to  preside  over  it;  and  none  else  can  be  more  qualified  for 
this  ofliee  than  the  Viear  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  representative  of  the 
blessed  Peter,  ihrough  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  Apostles." 
It  is  very  demonstrable  th;it  this  absence  of  an  international 
executive  has  led  to  those  sinister  coalitions  of  great  State.", 
known  as  Congresses  ;  that  it  has  helped  to  the  j)artition  of  Italy, 
and  the  jiartition  of  Poland ;  that  it  has  been  a  diversion  in  favor 
of  Mahometanism,  which  it  secured  in  Asia  long  after  its  pro- 
.sclytizing  force  was  i-pent ;  that  it  has  prolonged  the  African 
slave  trade ;  that  it  tended  to  mak(!  war  more  conmion  and  more 
deadly  ;  ])rodu(!ed  French  fraternities,  and  all  the  irregular  inter- 
ference by  one  people  in  the  alfairs  of  another,  so  much  to  be 
dej^lored  in  modern  polities. 

The  military  history  of  modern  Europe  is  an  additional  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  au  International  Executive.  No  State  can  now 
aHbrd  to  reduce  its  standing  army,  fearing  lest  others  will  not 
disband.  The  modern  motto  among  Christians  is — "In  time  of 
peace  prepare  ibr  war."  No  nation  can  trust  another's  good  faith ; 
and  the  solemn  invocation  "  in  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity," 
with  which  treaties  still  begin,  is  considered  a  mere  form,  not  bind- 
ing beyond  the  hour  of  convenience  or  necc.«.sity,  and  to  which 
even  Unitarian  envoys  might  sign  their  names.  If  a  casus  belli 
arises,  to  strike  the  first  blow — a  most  anti-Christian  sentiment — 
seems  the  first  thought  on  both  sides.  Look  at  the  war-debts,  and 
military  memoirs  of  Europe,  since  the  Germans  in  Bourbon's  army 


nd  lawless 
their  code, 
aincs,  but, 
xcutivo  to 
;o  act  upon 
acontcntcd 
itronj?  who 
writers  on 
it  an  inter- 
ly  declares 
uotea,  Mcl- 
nd  defends 
I,  maintainH 
[I  system  of 
^  should  bo 
ualificd  for 
itive  of  the 
Apostles." 
iternational 
-cat  State?, 
on  of  Italy, 
on  in  favor 
tor  its  pro- 
10    African 
i\  and  more 
gular  inter- 
nu(^h  to  be 

ional  argu- 

e  can  now 

rs  will  not 

In  time  of 

good  faith ; 

ly  Trinity," 

,  not  bind- 

d  to  which 

I  casus  belli 

lentiment — 

-debts,  and 

bon's  army 


n 


19 

proclaimed  Luther  at  Home,  amid  the  terrors  of  a  barbarous  pillage. 
Look  at  the  Tiiirty  Year's  War,  the  Wars  of  the  Succession,  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  of  the  French  Uevolulion.  Three  similar  centu- 
ries were  never  siicn  in  the  old  *'  I  hiitiul  States  "  of  Kurope.  From 
the  rei;^Mi  of  Constanline  to  that  of  Charles  V.,  a  general  internal 
war  was  unknown  in  ('hristendum.  The  border  wars  of  France, 
and  Fngland,  France,  Spain,  the  Itiiiian  States,  and  the  emperors, 
were  mere  tournaments  compared  to  those  horrid  slaughters  which 
Wallcnstein,  Marlborough,  Fredcriek,  and  Napoleon  din;ctcd. 
"  In  the  bloodiest  buttle  of  the  loth  century,". says  Michelet,  "  there 
were  only  one  thou.sand  uwn  killed."  The  whole  ener'nes  of 
Christendom  then  were  used,  nut  in  internal  wars,  but  chiefly 
against  exti-rior  Paganism  and  Ilealhcnlsm,  the  believer  in  Odin, 
and  the  belii'vcr  in  Mahomet.  'JMie  great  battles  were  fought  by 
united  Christian  chamj)ions  in  the  plains  of  Palestine,  on  tlie  vega 
of  (Jranadii,  about  the  iron  gate  of  the  Danulie,  or  on  the  sands 
of  Africa,  wliere  the  crescent  was  so  often  trodden  out  under  the 
burning  feet  of  Christian  com^uerors. 

How  great  the  change  in  Furopc  since  those  ages,  miscalled 
dark !  They  were  meditative  rather  than  speaking  ages;  they  wero 
ages  of  social  contentment  r.nd  sim])lr  ])leasurcs;  mtm,  like  Danto 
and  St.  Thomas,  thought  less  of  fame  than  of  duty  in  their  works, 
and  by  that  very  means  secured  the  noblest  wreaths  of  fame — for 
those  laurels  only  arc  ])ereimial  on  which  religion  breathes  her 
beatif)'ing  breath.  liy  appealing  to  that  barbarian  pride  which 
the  Cliurch  had  long  held  in  cheek,  social  contentment  was  rooted 
out;  every  man  thouglit  himself  the  best  man;  every  prize  was 
held  out  for  every  hand  to  pluck  at.  Great  cities  sprung  up  like 
Jonah's  gourd;  country  life  was  thrown  into  the  shade;  tlic  new 
doctrine  of  marriage  left  the  door  of  divorce  always  on  the  jar ; 
poverty  became  a  criminal,  and  was  locked  up,  lest  its  importuni- 
ties should  vex  the  prosiierous  })Coplc  of  the  world,  or  interrupt 
merchants  in  the  market-place.  A  trading  theology  and  a  Pagan 
philosophy  went  hand  in  hand  through  the  world,  displacing  the 
ancient  unity  of  duties  and  rights;  the  })olitieal consequences  have 
been,  as  I  said,  disunion,  partial  anarchy,  centralization,  and  coun- 
ter-centralization; lastly,  those  lamentable  European  revolutions, 
of  which,  I  trust  in  God,  we  have  heard  the  last  in  our  time. 

Let  me  sum  up  the  case  as  to  Europe.  Germany,  the  first  of- 
fender against  Christian  unity,  has  been  a]>propriatcly  punished  by 


20 


He  own  dis-unity.  It  has  lived  in  a  perpetual  vortex,  devoured 
by  its  own  disonMed  activity.  A  pntlu;tic  (lernmn  voico  has  aakcd 
— "Where  is  the  (iciiiuin's  fatlierland?"  And  tho  only  answer 
the  poet  could  lind  was  this: — 

"  Whcro'or  reKouncln  tlio  (Jormftn  tongue, 
Wliero  (Jormun  liymiiH  to  (Juil  uro  Hiiiiff, 
Wlu-ru  (icrniai)  it  the  iiamu  tor  friend, 
And  rriMiclinian  in  tliu  name  for  fiend, 
There  (gallant  brother  take  yonr  Btand, 
Thttt  is  the  (lormnn'H  farlherland." 


'!■] 


it 


^ 


But  hymns  and  hatred  will  not  d(>line  a  political  existence,  so 
this  answer  is  no  answer.  I  could  have  told  Dr.  Arndt  where  his 
fatherland  is :  it  was  murdered  at  Wittemberg,  buried  at  Augs- 
burgh,  and  the  inscription  on  its  tomb  was  the  treaty  of  Westpha- 
lia. I  can  tell  him  besides  who  were  the  murderers.  They  were 
Professor  Ijuther  and  his  brotherhood  of  assassins. 

Tho  lleformation  early  (>ntered  Switzerland :  in  1520,  by  the 
compact  of  Berne,  it  divided  the  Swiss  people  with  a  gulf  never 
since  cIoscmI.  J''rom  the  attraction  of  opposing  influences,  Switzer- 
land has  kept  a  foothold  on  her  Alps,  but  what  is  her  interior  liis- 
tory?  Canton  against  canton,  league  against  league,  and  city 
against  city.  Kvery  true  Switzcr  is  born  in  fear,  lives  in  doubt, 
and  dies  in  anxiety,  for  his  country.  When  the  descendants  of 
Zwinglius  and  Calvin  go  up  in  tears  and  sackcloth  to  the  shrine 
of  St.  Gall,  or  to  the  chapel  oC  William  Toll,  and  do  penance  there, 
Switzerland  may  recover  her  unity,  but  she  never  can  otherwise. 

In  1535,  the  lleformation  entered  England.  For  three  hundred 
years,  it  has  h;id  everything  its  own  way  in  that  State!  Where 
now  is  the  old  Saxon  constitution,  the  courts  leet  and  baron,  tho 
assemblies  of  Durham,  York,  Lanca.stcr,  Chester,  and  Cornwall? 
All  absorbed  by  London — that  great  central  sponge,  which  lies  in 
the  heart  of  the  empire,  drinking  through  its  thirsty  pores  all  tho 
energies  of  the  provinces,  and  giving  nothing  out,  except  under 
the  strong  pressure  of  democratical  agitation. 

AVhat  arc  tho  estates  of  England  to  day  ?  The  crown  is  a  mere 
sign-board,  the  House  of  Lords  an  old  curiosity  shop,  the  Com- 
mons, a  club  of  men  well  to  do  in  the  world.  The  Bank  of  Eng- 
land is  the  true  government  of  England — Manchester  is  tlfc  lieart 
of  the  nation — the  yard-stick  is  the  true  sceptre,  the  ledger,  cash- 


Icvourcd 
ins  asked 
y  answer 


stoncc,  so 
kvhero  his 
at  Augs- 
Wcstpha- 
iiey  were 

9,  by  the 
ulf  nevor 
I,  Switzcr- 
tcrior  his- 
und  city 
in  doubt, 
id  ants  of 
he  shrino 
nee  there, 
herwise. 
1  hundred 
Where 
iiron,  the 
ornwall  ? 
;h  lies  in 
cs  all  the 
.pt  under 

is  a  mere 
the  Com- 
:  of  Eng- 
Ife  lieart 
^er,  eash- 


SI 

book,  day-book,  and  blotter,  the  four  gonpols  of  tliis  now 
ch()S(!n  people — these  siililime  miHsionarios  of  a  ealieo  eivilization. 

Moreover,  as  Dr.  Jb'own.son  lias  well  said — "England,  economi- 
cally eoiisifliTed,  ineludcs  Freland  and  India" — tlu;  establi.siinient 
kept  up  by  i)iiyon,'ts,  and  tlie  ear  of  .Inggtrnaul,  iho  r/yo^  starv- 
ing amid  hi.*j  riee,  and  the  cutlur  perishing  in  the  furrow  of  tho 
field,  whieh  Enp;Hsh  law  has  dt'en'(;d  shall  bear  no  other  harvest 
but  rents,  tithes,  and  taxes.  No  inij»artial  ob.server — no  student 
of  tho  Hourees  of  our  information — none  but  a  seeond-hand  re- 
peater of  u  man,  will  venture  to  hold  up  I'higlaiid  as  a  sample  of 
the  salutary  eonsiMpiences  of  I'roteslant  polities. 

Shall  I  invite  you  to  the  Haltie.  t'tumtiies— tin;  eoldesl  and  most 
lieentious  in  Kurope.  It  is  ciu)ugh  to  refer  you  to  the  authority 
of  a  gifted  Seolehnian — a  sound  and  manly  thinker,  and  a  candid 
reporter  of  what  ho  has  seen — 1  mean  Malcolm  Laing's  book  on 
Sweden  and  Norway. 

Need  T  speak  of  Holland,  that  sand-bank  snatched  from  the  sea 
by  Catholie  generations,  now  sinking  out  of  sight  under  the  ineu- 
bus  of  its  own  intolerance  ?  Was  it  Spanish  or  Orange  oppr(*ssiou 
that  sent  the  De  Witts  and  Barnaveldts  to  theseallbld?  AVas  it 
Spanisli  oj>pression  cau.sed  IV'lgium  to  separate  her  fate  from  her 
natural  associate?  In  Holland,  also,  wi'  are  disappointed  when 
we  look  for  the  Protestant  regeneration  of  the  lununn  race. 

The  Reformation  entered  Franec;  with  Calvin,  Coligny,  and  Hen- 
ry IV.  It  made  a  powcrfid  i)arty,  and  caused  many  years  of  war. 
Iciclielieu  e.Ktinguislied  it  only  by  extinguishing  the  provincial 
liberties,  whieh  it  had  excited  even  to  anarchy.  He  centralized 
Kraiiee  to  save  France;  I'entrali/.ation  of  course  led  to  abuses,  to 
luxury,  to  skepticism,  to  tlu^  encyelopediii,  to  the  guillotine  revo- 
lution. "Sire,"  siiid  a  wise  minister  to  Louis  XV.,  "the  philoso- 
])liers  are  ruining  I''rance."  Who  were  these  philorfoi)hers?  Tho 
legitimate;  odspringof  Switzerland  and  Geimany.  They  were  at 
home  in  (Jeneva  and  Herlin,  and  in  their  own  rapid  way  they  car- 
ried out,  in  France,  the  princi})les  whieh  the  slower  Saxons  and 
Swiss  had  been  centuries  in  developing.  "Tlie  most  perfect  Pro- 
testant,'' as  l^urke  observes,  "  is  iu;  who  protests  against  the  whole 
CIiristi;in  religion  " — the  Freneh  Deist  is,  therefore,  the  most  con- 
sistent Protestant.  Voltaire  and  his  school  completed  what  Lu- 
ther and  his  school  eommenced.  lleason  was  deified  in  Paris,  and 
lia*ionah4•»^  iu  Germany ;  the  only  dilfercnce  on  the  opposite  sides 


I 


',i- 


iV^ 


lit 

m 

M 


22 

• 

of  the  Rhine  w-is  between  an  idea  and  its  form — the  French  cm- 
bodied  unbelief  like  artists,  while  the  Germans  left  it  in  a  dense 
metaphysical  fog,  hanging  somewhere  over  the  Black  Forest  of 
their  own  pathless  and  melancholy  sijceulations. 

To  sum  up  in  one  sentence — tiie  worldlings  of  Europe,  in  the 
1600th  year  after  Christ,  rose  against  His  Church.  They  would 
have  liberty  without  authority^ — they  got  it;  they  would  have  pro- 
gress without  conscience — they  got  it ;  they  would  undo  the  bonds 
of  unity,  and  as  a  providential  punishment  they  have  supped  full 
of  the  horrors  of  anarchy.  Like  the  Theban  ilirmer,  who  prayed 
to  Jupiter  to  have  his  own  will  of  tlic  woatlier,  and  when  he  got 
his  request  knew  nor,  >yi:at  to  do  with  what  he  so  much  desired,  so 
also  the  I'rotestuut  part  of  Christendom,  if  they  ever  will  be  Avise, 
ought  now  to  see  that  God's  Anointed  are  the  only  safe  deposi- 
tories of  the  power  to  teach,  to  subdue,  and  to  govern  the  mob 
of  passions  and  propensities  which  grows  up  in  o/ery  new  genera- 
tion of  mankind. 

I  come  now  to  a  topic  nearer  home — to  inquire  whether  our 
American  liberties  oayc  their  origin  to  Protestantism  or  not. 

But  before  I  do  so,  let  me  say  here  that  them  seems  a  disjiosi- 
tion  in  certain  quarters,  among  certain  editors  and  orators,  whom 
I  do  not  name,  because  current  i^ames  would  but  distract  our  at- 
tention from  the  great  subject,  there  seems  a  disposition  to  charge 
us,  Avho  arc  loyal  Catholics  as  well  as  loyal  citizens,  with  a  eold- 
,ness,  or  even  an  enmity,  to  the  institutions  of  the  United  States. 
Some  gentlemen,  who  ought  to  be  with  us  and  of  us,  instead  of 
lluttcring  over  tlic  balance  of  an  uncertain  liberalism — have  given 
a  sort  of  sanction  to  this — I  will  call  it — this  fabrication  of  fully 
mixed  with  maUce.  Because  our  religion  informs  us  that  })olitieal 
duties  are  conscientious  duties  ;  because  conscience  and  common 
sense  forbid  us  to  believe  in  ;'uy  patent  form  of  government  fit 
for  every  peoiilc  under  tlic  sun ;  because  we  cannot  bow  down  be- 
fore the  idol  of  the  hour,  whose  front  of  brass  dazzles  those  who 
do  not  look  at  his  feet  of  clay  ;  because  we  cannot  eni'se  the  man 
who  has  saved  societ}-  in  France,  and  given  her  the  first  i>rincijile 
of  all  government,  Aulhoritij ;  licause  we  onnnot  shoul  hosanna;' 
after  dcrnocmcy  with  a  feather  in  its  hat  t.nd  a  sentry  at  its  door 
— therefore  we  are  indilTercnt  republicans.  1  ask  your  jiardon  for 
this  allusion  to  a  charge  so  very  absurd  and  so  very  false,  that  it 
really  deserves  no  other  answer  than  to  be  silently  spat  ujiou. 

In  considering  the  origin  of  American  libert/  ,  I  think  suffi- 


" 


ench  cm- 
n  a  dense 
Forest  of 


pe, 


in  tho 


cy  would 
have  pro- 
the  bonds 
ippcd  lull 
10  prayed 
m  he  got 
lesired,  so 
1  be  wise, 
fc  dcposi- 
tlic  mob 
\v  gencra- 

ictlier  our 
not. 

a  disposi- 
)rs,  whom 
ct  our  at- 
to  charge 
th  a  cold- 
ed  States, 
nstead  of 
ave  given 
n  of  folly 
,t  j)olitieal 
common 
jinic'ut  fit 
down  be- 
ll ose  who 
}.  the  man 
j.rinciple 
liosanna:? 
it  its  door 
ardon  for 
•^c,  that  it 

U])OU. 

link  suffi- 


28 

Gient  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  tho  influence  of  tho  circum- 
stances of  the  first  colonists :  coming  from  England,  they  would 
naturally  bring  with  tiiem  the  general  idea  of  representative 
government;  but  standing  in  the  presence  of  the  northern  wilder- 
ness, they  necessarily  learnt  the  lessons  of  self  government.  Tho 
monarchy  did  not  emigrate  here  as  to  Brazil ;  the  aristocracy  did 
not  emigrate  as  to  Cuba  and  ^Mexico ;  the  working  men  alone 
emigrated.  There  was  from  the  first,  a  natural  ec^uality  among 
them  :  the  best  shot,  the  best  craftsman  was  the  only  an'sto  possi- 
ble in  the  forest  of  the  North.  In  the  smallest  towiisliip,  a?  now 
in  the  greatest  State,  there  existed  the  principles  of  the  Republi- 
can system — tlie^  Elected  their  select  men,  reeves  and  path-mas- 
ters, as  you  do  your  Afayor,  President,  or  Legislators.  American 
Democracy  began  Avith  the  beginning  of  the  country,  it  is  a  native 
here,  its  constitution  is  formed  to  the  climate,  its  irrowth  was  regular 
and  orderly — it  is  never  to  be  confounded  with  the  ferocious  and 
chimerical  Democracy  of  old  monarchical  States.  In  the  European 
sense  there  was  no  Ami^riean  rcuolutiofi,  for  the  Euro])ean  term 
means  a  double  act,  an  undoing  and  a  doing,  a  tearing  down  of  the 
old,  to  make  room  for  the  new,  as  if  a  nationality  was  an  old  house 
or  an  old  boiler,  that  could  be  taken  asunder  in  such  a  fashion : 
the  American  revolution  means  only  that,  the  King  who  never 
was  here,  never  was  a  practical  part  of  the  colonial  system,  having 
innovated  on  the  native,  necessary  rights  of  the  per-ple — that  they 
rose  up,  completed  the  fabric  of  their  iueoniplcto  liberties,  and  told 
the  King  of  Enghmd  to  manage  his  own  country,  as  they  meant 
in  future  to  manage  theirs.  The  word  rcvolutinn.  so  stinks  in  the 
nostrils  of  every  sane  man,  that  it  is  necessary  frequently  to  repeat 
this  distinction  between  its  American  and  Euro}>can  sense,  in 
order  to  take  the  illustrious  authors  ol'  our  constitution,  out  Oi 
the  bloody  and  ignominious  catalogue  of  Euroi)ean  radicalism. 

But  if  northern  democracy  grew  in  the  woods  and  ran  in  the 
rivers,  Avhy  did  it  not  do  so  in  J^outh  Ain(M'iea?  This  habit  of 
comparing  dissiniihir  things  is  one  of  the  leading  delusions  of  our 
times.  Let  us  look  at  the  facts  by  themselves,  Martin  Alon5:o  Pinzon 
advised  Columbus  to  .sail  south  with  tlie  Culf  Stream  instead  of 
north,  and  so,  for  ends  knovv^n  only  to  Providence,  the  Spaniards 
struck  the  tropical  region  of  America.  Tiicy  settled  under  a  sky 
which  clothed  all  under  it.  on  a  soil  bursting  with  the  precious 
metal.-?.      The  aborigines  they  encountered  were  a  semi-civilized 


■m: 


"li- 


1: 


m¥ 


•lu 


m 
II 


■  K-li 


24 

people  with  whom,  at  least,  the  common  Spaniard  might,  without 
disgrace,  intermarry ;  a  great  many  young  Don's  of  better  family 
than  fortune,  got  royal  grants  in  the  colonics,  and  thus  entailed  a 
military  aristocracy  upon  the  new  country.  Better  for  the  Spanish 
settler  he  had  never  landed  with  such  captains  on  a  soil  so  rich  in 
minerals,  or  under  a  climate  so  luxurio  usand  enervating !  But, 
as  if  to  complete  their  unhappy  experience,  the  frenzy  of  the  18th 
century  seized  them,  and  they  too  should  iuive  their  paper  repub- 
lic. They  rent  their  green  branch  untimely  from  the  parent  tree 
— they  planted  their  olives  too  much  to  the  north — "  they  were 
rotten  before  they  were  ripe  " — they  rebelled  without  suHicicnt 
cause,  and  have  lived  ever  since  without  law  orgovprnment.  South 
America  wants  a  man — v/ants  a  master,  and  for  her  own  sake  I 
hope  she  may  g(^t  one  soon,  not  from  abroad,  but  from  among 
her  own  gifted  childrcu. 

A  very  few  words  as  to  Protc-  iintism  in  relation  to  Asia  and 
the  barbarian  world.  Who  divided  Europe  at  the  very  hour  the 
Turks  were  concentrating  upon  it?  The  Luthers  who  cried  with 
the  Dutch  democrats  of  to-day — "  The  Turk  rather  than  the  Pope." 
Who  has  kc])t  the  Crescent  and  the  Koran  where  they  are  these 
last  two  centuries?  IVotestant  England.  To  go  further,  who 
has  made  the  Christian  name  odious  in  India  and  China?  England, 
the  opium-seller.  Who  tramples  on  the  cross  annually  in  Japan  ? 
The  Dutch,  who  alone  had  an  entry  there  for  two  centuries.  Wiio 
pensions  Ji'ggernaut  in  India,  and  makes  the  faithless  Cliris- 
tian  blush  in  the  presence  of  honorable  Turks?  I^rotestant  Eng- 
land. 

Has  any  I'rotestant  government  since  the  Reformation,  made  a 
solitary  effort  to  rescue  the  holy  places  in  Palestine  from  pollu- 
tion? Not  one.  With  all  their  boasted  love  for  the  Bible,  have 
they  not  suH'ored  the  land  of  the  Bible  to  remain  a  prey  to  the 
Heathen,  and  tlic  monuments  of  the  Biljle  to  be,  in  many  cases, 
destroyed  or  defaced?  France  alone  in  our  davs  has  attempted 
to  rescue  and  redeem  tlic  Holy  Sepulchre.  Protestantism  could 
arm  for  tlie  city  of  Pericles  and  Demosthenes,  but  it  had  no  care 
for  tlic  city  over  which  "  Jesus  wept ;  "  the  modern  Pagan  turns 
fondly  to  Athens  as  to  his  mother,  but  if  he  visits  the  city  of 
David,  it  is  to  carve  his  worthless  name  upon  the  trees  that  grow 
in  the  Garden  of  (ietheseminai,  or  to  take  out  his  telescope  and 
"survey  the  country  "  from  Mount  Calvary. 


26 


it,  without 
iter  family 
entailed  a 
LC  Spanish 

so  rich  in 
ig!  But, 
f  the  18th 
)er  repub- 
arent  tree 
hoy  were 

suflicicnt 
nt.  South 
vn  sake  I 
in  among 

Asia  and 
•  hour  the 
jried  witli 
,he  Pope." 
arc  these 
her,  who 
England, 
n  Japan  ? 
ies.  Who 
ss  Cliris- 
tant  Eng- 

1,  made  a 
oni  pollu- 
l)lo,  have 
!y  to  the 
my  cases, 
itloinptcd 
sm  could 
J  no  care 
fan  turns 
3  city  of 
lat  grow 
cope  and 


.« 


Not  only  has  the  Reformation  made  a  successful  diversion  in 
favor  of  Mahomet  and  Buddha,  but  it  has  no  charm  to  lure  the  savage 
from  his  lair.  Not  to  speak  of  remote  and  obscure  regions,  look 
at  its  consequences  to  our  own  Indians.  It  is  the  disgrace  of  our 
present  civilization  that  we  have  never  rescued  one  savage  from 
the  wilderness.  We  have  destroyed,  we  could  not  convert. 
And  why?  We  began  with  the  rcdman's  clothing,  his  manners, 
and  his  language.  Instead  of  beginning  as  Toth  and  Cadmus,  and 
Numa  of  old,  with  his  religion;  instead  of  doing  as  St.  Gregory 
did  with  the  Saxons,  and  St.  Leo,  with  the  lluns — beginning  with 
a  religion.  If  the  inner  Indian  was  changed,  the  costume  would 
have  come  of  itself.  But  those  who  preceded  us  in  j'..merica, 
seemed  to  consider  a  sack  coat,  a  round  hat,  and  a  gloved  hand, 
the  outward  and  visible  marks  of  a  true  Christian.  There  was, 
at  one  period,  a  prospect  of  the  redemption  of  the  redmcn — re- 
demption which  all  who  believe  '  unn  to  have  souls,  must  admit 
was  possible.  The  Jesuits  understood  them,  but  the  civilized 
savage  ordered  the  Jesuits  out  of  the  wilderness,  denied  them  the 
luxury  of  the  scalping-knife  and  the  burning  stake,  and  because 
the  Jesuit  was  hated,  the  Indian  was  lost. 

I  do  not  deny  that  attempts  were  made  in  good  faith  by  Pro- 
testants to  reclaim  the  rodmen,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  Protestant 
merchant,  with  his  rum  and  his  rifle,  was  too  powerful  for  the 
Protestant  missionary,  and  that  nothing  permanent  was  done. 

I  have  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  described  the  outline  of  this 
Siibject,  and  must  leave  to  the  unconvinced  or  the  curious  to  fill 
up  the  details.  It  would  require  not  one,  but  a  course  of  lectures, 
fully  to  illustrate  the  poll*'  ^  causes  and  consequences  of  the  Pro- 
testant Eeformation. 

Before  I  close,  let  mo  say  a  word  to  those  friends  (some  of  whom 
I  see  here)  who  remember  when  I  maintained  some  o}:)inions  dil- 
ferent  from  those  I  have  expressed.  Some  years  ago  I  went  into 
the  discussion  of  great  questions,  of  government  and  revolution, 
with  all  the  rasli  confidence  of  ouc-and-twenty.  I  deeply  regret 
that  I  did  so.  I  fear  I  gave  offence  where  I  should  have  rendered 
obedience,  and  pain  where  I  should  have  given  pleasure.  I  may 
have  misled  others,  since  I  so  misguided  myself.  What  excited 
my  apprehension  was,  that  those  whom  I  knew  to  be  the  social 
enemies  of  our  religion  and  race,  applauded  my  career.  I  hesita- 
ted— I  reflected — I  repented,     I  then  resolved  never  again  to 


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speak  or  write  upon  such  subjects,  without  a  careful  and  conscien- 
tious study  of  the  facts  and  principles  in  each  case.  If  perplexi- 
ties arise  as  to  principle,  then  we  have  the  Christian  doctrine,  or 
the  living  voice  of  the  Church,  to  roicr  to  for  the  decision  of  our 
douLts.  In  this  spirit  I  have  of  late  read  history,  and  in  this 
si)irit  I  have  meditated  upon  the  subject,  which  I  have  had  the 
honor  to  j)rcsent  to  you  to-night. 

I  am  convinced  that  no  great  historical  or  human  interest,  can 
now  bo  safely  discussed  witliout  the  exposition  of  first  principles, 
of  Catholic  principles.  It  is  an  age  which  takes  nothing  for 
granted,  except  its  own  self-sufliciency :  it  cannot  be  too  often 
brought  to  the  touchstone  of  theological  science. 

I  am  convinced  there  is  such  a  science  as  Christian  politics;  I 
am  certain  tluit  it  is  the  science  of  true  progress,  of  general  peace, 
of  legal  liberty.  I  am  equally  convinced  that  the  constant  repe- 
tition round  us  of  English,  German,  and  Parisian  ideas — which 
are  at  bottom  Protestant  ideas — have  misled  many  Catholic  young 
men  into  adopting  rules  and  maxims  of  private  and  public  life 
which  they  cannot  defend  by  reason,  or  in  conscience,  and  which 
religion  emphatically  condemns.  I  believe,  further,  that  to  hold 
and  talk  polities,  which  are  unreasonable  and  irreligious,  is  un- 
worthy of  any  man  who  calls  himself  a  Christian,  and  most  un- 
worthy of  all  in  an  Irish  Catholic.  For  we  are  of  the  soil  that 
once  produood  the  harvest  of  saints  every  year;  we  have  in  our 
hearts  a  kindred  l)lood,  purified  through  their  holy  lives.  Our 
fathers  in  the  days  of  Henry,  of  Elizabeth,  of  Anne,  would  dis- 
own us  as  their  descendants,  if  they  heard  us  parrot  the  wretched 
politics  of  revolutionary  Protestantism.  They  would,  I  think, 
arise  from  their  graves,  if  Providence  permitted,  to  point  out  to 
us  the  lost  path  of  our  inheritance — the  path  beside  which  the 
Holy  Well  gushes  up  to  meet  the  thirsty  traveller's  lip,  and  where 
the  way-side  cross  beckons  him  to  kneel  down  and  pray.  These 
fathers  were  sorely  tried  in  their  day,  but  they  never  equivocated 
one  hair's  breadth.  Theirs  was  no  thistle  down  faith,  that  any 
passing  puff  might  blow  away,  but  a  hardy  laurel,  that  drank  of 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  and  b  "ame  as  immortal  as  its  food; 
which  neither  summer's  heat  could  parch,  nor  winter's  cold  could 
chill ;  it  struck  root  in  the  rock,  it  l)los3omed  in  darkness,  it 
waved  like  a  triumphant  banner  above  the  ruined  breach  at  Drog- 
heda  and  Limerick.     Our  fathers  left  us  this  divine  faith  for  our 


h'T 


27 

sole  inlioritanco— it  ia  at  once  our  history,  our  consolation,  and 
our  glory. 

"  They  left  us  a  treasure  of  pity  and  wrath, 
A  epur  to  cur  cold  blood  set, 
And  we'll  tread  their  path 
With  n  spirit  tluit  hath 
Assurance  of  victory  yet," 


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